


It was just a word...

by goodisrelative



Category: NCIS: Los Angeles
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-16
Updated: 2011-04-16
Packaged: 2017-10-18 04:14:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/184862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/goodisrelative/pseuds/goodisrelative
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Now? Now, she was his partner and not even she could change that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It was just a word...

**Author's Note:**

> As always thanks to my betas bets_cyn, rinkle, and pixie_on_acid. You always make me look great! I haven’t written much in well over a year, but this just had to be written. I <3 Kensi and Deeks. And yet, none of them, except Hetty, give Deeks the credit he deserves. He may not have all their training, but he’s a hellava cop and he’s got some moves of his own.

He knew better than to ask this time. She’d just say she was fine, like she always did and they’d both recognize it as the lie it was. For one so trained in counterintelligence, she could be transparent and, at times like this, a horrible liar. Maybe it was just because it was him asking. Maybe it was because they were partners. Whatever the reason, he never questioned her on it and honestly, he tried not to think on it much – didn’t want to jinx it or anything.

He knew she’d just lost her former partner when he came on the scene, and by lost he meant taken, disappeared, _gone_. And then they’d found Dom, only to have him die practically right before their eyes. He’d understood when she shut down tighter than Fort Knox.

Kensi was a tough woman – he’d never deny that. He never underestimated her ability to drop his ass in hand-to-hand combat. He let her drive because he actually didn’t care and she didn’t have a navigational problem with or without Eric in their ears. And she always seemed to feel she had to one up anyone around her. At first he’d thought it was just guys. But as time had passed, he’d come to realize that it was anyone and everyone. She felt she had to be the best at everything and show no fear. He wondered what had made her like that and suspected it had a lot to do with her father; he understood the impact of fathers.

He took her ribbing because she had way more advanced training than he ever would with LAPD, but sometimes he wished she’d give him some credit. He knew they’d never look at things the same way and he was good with that. Their experiences were too divergent and honestly, he thought (and he was pretty sure Hetty did too, hence them being partnered and all) it made them a better team.

Maybe he was more of a joker because she was so serious all the time. And maybe she had her reasons to be. But once in a while, especially when he was that outsider to another team moment, he wondered if she even realized he had his own reasons for what he did. Or if she even suspected that being partners was harder than he ever let on. Did she wonder why he’d spent so much time undercover – sans partner automatically – or did it never cross her mind? Because as much as she hadn’t wanted him, he hadn’t wanted her, at least in the beginning. Now? Now, she was his partner and not even she could change that.

 

It was the look in her eyes that told him that he’d be on her doorstep, beer in hand, tonight or whenever this case ended. He’d come racing around the corner of the mansion and she’d been standing still as death, staring at the now dead body in front of her. His mind recalled that first time – back when he still asked aloud, “Are you all right, Kensi?” That had been the first time he’d shown up with beer.

This time he just said her name and waited. When she finally looked at him, he could see the shock in her eyes. “Go to the front and wait for me.”

“I never. There wasn’t.” She spoke quietly.

“No one ever suspected. He’d never killed before. Go out front.” Deeks answered softly, enunciating the last three words into an order.

She moved then and only looked back once before she disappeared from his sight a moment later.

 

Kensi sat on the front stoop and waited for Deeks. She’d never suspected that their suspect would kill their other, forced-into-cooperation suspect. She trusted her instincts and there had been nothing telling her this would happen.

By the time Deeks came back around front, Kensi was back to her normal self and Deeks wasn’t surprised.

**************

As he waited for her to answer the doorbell, he wondered idly if she suspected it was him. A moment later he had his answer.

“Deeks? What are you…” she trailed off when she saw the beer. “I’m fine, you know,” she added as she stood aside to let him in.

He ignored her words and smiled, “Top Model?”

He got a laugh and an invite to sit as she held out her hand for a beer.

They laughed and talked to the TV judges – disagreeing with comments, and once in a while, agreeing.

“I’m fine, Deeks, really,” she insists again, three quarters of the way through the show.

“Me thinks the lady doth protest too much,” Deeks commented, but kept his eyes on the TV.

“I’m serious, Deeks! I am fine!”

He looked at her then. For once he didn’t joke and was dead serious when he answered her. “No, Kensi, you are not fine. The too-high-pitched voice a second ago telegraphs that clearly. But I already knew that from the look in your eyes since this morning, the too sharp and forced laughter during the entire show and a few more ways I could detail that tell me you aren’t fine. You aren’t superwoman, contrary to your belief and you don’t have to be. Honestly, I’d rather not have a partner with bullet-proof bracelets and a lasso of truth.” He lightened his seriousness with humor, but the truth was still bright in his words.

“I don’t pretend to be superwoman and I am fine!” Her denial was sure and swift.

“You know what? Fine. You want to pretend all the time, who the hell am I to stop you?” He was tired. It had been a long day and he’d dealt with two bodies and a ton of paperwork and had caught crap from LAPD and his teammates and for once he just didn’t want to deal with this. Maybe he was wrong – maybe she was the only one who _could_ make them not partners. He got up and walked out before he said something he knew he’d regret.

 

Kensi stared at her front door. _What the hell just happened?_ Deeks never got angry – especially not with her. And she was the serious one in this partnership. _Wait a minute, did I just call Deeks her partner, even just in her head?_ She snorted as her brain used the word partner. She’d never wanted him – never wanted any partner. But even she couldn’t deny anymore that they were partners. She didn’t let him know that though.

But she could still see him sliding down the post outside the hospital after he’d shot a man, saving her life. She could still see him lying still as death after being shot just so they could get to her. He was her partner, whether she could admit that to him or not.

She closed her eyes against the anger that had flashed in his eyes when he left. She had to catch him. It was her turn to reach out – he always did.

Two minutes later, she tore out of her apartment in search of him.

 

Deeks cursed when he got to his car: his keys were still on Kensi’s coffee table. God, he didn’t want to see her right now, so he stuck to the shadows and made his way back to her place. He stopped at her door – she never leaves it open, too well trained for a rookie mistake like that. His gun was in his hand as he moved slowly into the apartment. Nothing looked out of place – the only thing missing he could see was Kensi. He saw his keys, right where he left them, and continued on, slowly, through the apartment.

“What are you doing?” she asked from behind him.

Her voice startled him and he’d turned, taking aim on her. “Jesus Christ, Kensi!” He cursed and lowered his gun a second later.

“What are you doing back here?” she asked after he put his sidearm away.

He grinned and pointed. “Forgot my keys.”

But this time Kensi realized that his grin covered his frustration with her. She wondered how much else it covered and why she’d never seen that before.

“How the hell did you circle back without me seeing you?” She hadn’t meant to ask it quite like that… it kinda just slipped out.

His grin faded. “Because I am not a complete moron. I may not have all the fancy-smancy training you, Sam, and G’ve had, but I can hold my own. How else do you think I survived undercover for so long?”

She winced at his anger – he was right, a lot of the time they didn’t give him the credit he deserved. _She_ didn’t always give him the respect he deserved. He was a hellava cop, not that she had ever (or would ever) tell him that: a girl could have some secrets. “One day, Deeks, you’re gonna forget your head somewhere and then you’ll be glad I’m your partner and always looking out for you.”

Deeks looked at her for a moment. He raised an eyebrow.

Kensi’s eyes stayed on his as she sighed. “Yes. Partner.”

The real Deeks grin was back.


End file.
